New(er) truck purchase questions

basseyes wrote:

I hate the rocker panel, wheel well and other rust issues on all trucks, so beyond irritating that the body on so many trucks is going to rot out before the trucks motor does.

How are the new Ford aluminum bodies holding up for corrosion issues like this?

I have a 2001 Suburban now that you can guess how it looks. I will be looking for a new truck next year and this is one of the biggest things I would like to avoid if at all possible.

Has Dodge gotten any better on their wheel wells? My last 2003 dodge was rusting after 5 years.

Has Dodge gotten any better on their wheel wells? My last 2003 dodge was rusting after 5 years.
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Im curious of this as well? Most Dodges you see almost always have rust around the wheel wells.

Back to the topic I recently purchased a 2012 Ford F-150 FX4 EcoBoost and I absolutely love it. I’m shocked how much power it has for being a 3.5 Liter V6. I’ve said this in another post that the gas mileage isn’t as great as advertised but heck i’m happy with it considering my last truck got 15 hwy mpg compared to this one that gets 19 to 20.

the earlier models ( hence now they are older trucks ) had a different wheel liner, that would allow sand/salt to get trapped between the wheel liner and the back of the panel… if you didn’t ever wash it out, eventually it comes through… they have since been redesigned. I haven’t had any replaced here in years. BTW, they all do it eventually.. some worse than other’s and RAM is not the worst ….

My 03 ram isn’t rusted throu the wheel wells yet but is bubbling on one rear side …..rusty but trusty

311hemi wrote:

How are the new Ford aluminum bodies holding up for corrosion issues like this?

It’s a little early to tell since they’ve only been on the road for about 18 months.
I don’t like being an early adapter but sprung for one last year. The aluminum is quite a bit thicker than the sheet steel used in previous models. Time will tell.